Bihar: IAS officer Senthil Kumar charged in a money laundering case

PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed chargesheet in a money laundering case against 1996 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer K Senthil Kumar and three others. It also filed a prosecution complaint for confiscation of his provisionally attached properties worth Rs2.60 crore and conviction in the case. The state health secretary has been accused of amassing disproportionate assets (DA) during his tenure as Munger DM and Patna municipal commissioner. Earlier, the Vigilance Investigation Bureau, Patna, had filed chargesheet against Senthil and the then Patna additional municipal commissioner Baidyanath Das and others for causing a loss of Rs8.76 crore to the government exchequer. In 2012, the ED initiated investigation against Senthil and others under the Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.Among the other accused are Das, Senthil's younger brother K Ayyappan and a contractor named Bimal Kumar, an ED press statement said. "During investigation under the PMLA, it has been revealed that Senthil amassed huge wealth by corrupt means right from his tenure as DM, Munger and as Patna municipal commissioner. He laundered his illegal wealth through firms such as M/s Sudha Super Market and M/s Chennai Cafe at Patna and a family trust named K Indira Memorial in Tamil Nadu," ED stated in a statement, adding that the trust was used to launder illegal wealth.It further stated that though M/s Sudha Super Market and M/s Chennai Cafe were owned by Senthil's younger brother K Ayappan, they were actually run by him. ED also found evidence of huge payments made to the firms by Bimal in return of getting favours in government contracts. Senthil's family members have also been accused of manipulating their income tax returns.